SINGAPORE SHORT STORIES

At this time of my writing, I should already be sound sleeping, or at the very least, be preparing for sleep. However, I could not sleep. The weather was simply too hot. It did not help that I have no air-conditioner in my room to help me cool down the bristling heat! My bed was like burning as the heat trapped inside my bed emanated slowly while I slept, burning me alive! What? I was actually forcing myself to sleep! I needed to sleep to have enough energy for the next few days. Was it really the heat of the extremely hot February that caused me not able to sleep or was it simply that I could not sleep? I did not know as memories flashed back many years ago when I was serving my national service. Then, after few days of not sleeping during jungle exercise, I actually doze off intermittently on one hot afternoon while waiting for some ‘enemies’ during our exercise. The condition then was so tough and hot, but I was still able to sleep. I came to a conclusion that if one really is

Today is the 15th day of the lunar Chinese New Year, which marks really the end of the Chinese New Year celebration in Singapore. Over the past two weeks, Singapore reveled in the many great celebrations over the island as I have shared with all of you in this blog before. I really missed Chinese New Year as it may be the one of the very rare times when Singaporeans like me can let our hair down.

The headlines of today’s newspapers reads: “Marina IR Opens Apr 27”. Indeed this is one of the news that Singaporeans are awaiting for this year, even more eagerly so, after Resort World in Sentosa opens its door to the public on Chinese New Year day. Coincidentally, today’s newspapers also reported how a man was arrested for cheating the Resort World security officer to gain entry into the Casino using his brother’s driving licence (he faces a similar charge of stealing his brother’s document) and trying to cheat the casino officers there of winning $190. There are really some crime cases which are fortunately being cracked and the perpetuators arrested since the opening of Resort World casinos. Will there be more crime in the offing and social problems when the Marina IR opens Apr 27? Possibly so, but I believe the Casino Regulatory Authority as well as our police will do their best to contain these social fallouts arising from gambling at the casinos to the minimum. The opening

My wife and I visited the River Hongbao 2010 yesterday night. This year, River Hongbao was held at the floating platform beside the Singapore Esplanade as alike of last year. The floating platform is now commonly used to stage mega events and exhibitions and the brilliant night skydrop of the skyscrapers in the Central Business District serves as a dazzling backdrop for the River Hongbao event. Compared to River Hongbao last year, this year, all the exhibits were quite well spread out, which gave generous amount of walking space to visitors at the event. The usual theme of River Hongbao however was not missed this year. Most of the showcase were from China, and there were the familiar animal horoscope models, Chinese lanterns, god of fortune, stage performances, stalls offering China delicacies and more. River Hongbao is a great event to visit with, together with your family, relatives and friends. River Hongbao will end tonight, so if you have not visited River Hongbao and would lik

What a night! Chingay 2010 is one of the most beautiful Chingay parades I have ever witnessed! The sight, the sound and the most amazing floats revved up the moods of Chingay 2010 to its highest ever! Chingay 2010 is held this year on both dates: yesterday and today. My wife and I caught the glimpses of Chingay Parade 2010 at the Pits building at Singapore Flyer yesterday and I must tell you that it is a truly spectacular show! Thousands of performers were on the road, strutting their stuff! Floats were aplenty. Dancers were really engrossed and professional in their performances. And of all the dozens of floats this year, one float which stood out this year was a huge giant panda sashaying and greeting everyone of us down the road! This float made its debut in Chingay this year and it was one of the very last floats! Together with this panda were other truly amazing and cute creatures which will become more and more familiar to Singaporeans as time goes by! What are these animals an

How time flies! Today will be the official Chingay 2010 parade. And what comes next after the Chingay parade will be none other than the largest annual street party in Singapore: City Alive 2010! Join in with thousands of party-goers as they grooved to the beat and rhythm of the latest hip-hop music spun by the famous DJs in the region! Singapore's biggest street dance party returns this year, this time to a new party venue at the Pit Building. City Alive! 2010 promises party-revellers yet another night of pumping action as they witness the transformation of the tracks in front of Pit Building into an out-of-this-world party venue! Party-revellers will expect a night of adrenaline rush as they party the night away with international acts such as Space Cowboy (Digital Rock Star - UK), DJ Sarasa a.k.a Silverboombox (Japan), Singapore’s very own DJ Andrew T and DJ Inquisitive dishing out Hip Hop/R&B/Electro-pop grooves. Also expect a host of exciting activities, such as the ultima

Happy Birthday Everyone! Yes, I am no kidding! Today is the birthday of both you and I ! Yup, in fact today is the birthday of everyone! How time passes! Chinese New Year has just entered into its 7th day today. According to Chinese tradition, the 7th day of the first lunar month is the day of man, hence today is our birthday! According to the ancient writings of Tung Fang So, censor to the Emperor Wudi under the Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), the first eight days of the year are dedicated respectively to the rooster, dog, pig, sheep, bull, horse, man and grain. And how can Ren Ri go without Yu Sheng? Yu Sheng is a Teochew style raw fish salad. Partakers of Yusheng will toss the Yusheng high up to signify prosperity and progress for the coming year ahead! Definitely, I will be sharing my celebrations of Ren Ri, my birthday as well as yours later in the blog, so stay tuned! Happy Birthday to You, once again! Visit Singapore Short Stories for more interesting reads NOW!

Some days ago, I have blogged about ‘Fan Tai Sui’ in my post . I belonged to one of the animal signs to offend (‘fan’) Tai Sui, as such, I dutifully went to ‘bai’ (pray to ) Tai Sui yesterday afternoon to seek blessing and forgiveness for the year ahead. I visited a temple off Joo Chiat road and by the time I arrived at the temple, there were already three long queues of worshippers waiting for their turn to ‘bai tai sui’. This was my first time to ‘bai tai sui’ myself as previously I came with my parents, however this year, our schedules could not match, and hence I went ahead alone to pray. I asked a man who seemed to be the one of the ‘in-charge’ how I could proceed with the prayer. I went to the reception counter as instructed by him and told the receptionist what I was there for. The receptionist immediately produced a slip of paper and instructed me to write my Chinese name on the paper. She then asked for the date and time of my birth as well as my horoscope. Within minutes, sh

This is a joke which came out from my head some days ago. I hope you will like the joke. Once upon a time, a couple who have just given birth to their son, would like to give his son a name which would give inspiration to others around, so they settled on a simple name: Hope. Like any other man born into a rich family. Hope grew up into a fine young man. Being rich, his family never had any problems in giving Hope only the best in life. Hope had the best life any young man could dream of. He indulged in food and drinks and never watched his diet, becoming a fat and obese man. Being rich, he soon grew complacent and arrogant. He soon lost touch with reality, with society, being raised in any ivory tower and instead of being an inspiration to others, he soon became scornful of people poorer than him and even at times mocking at them. One day, his parents asked one of Hope’s friend, David, whether Hope has inspired him in life as what his name has set him out to be. David replied “What h

Iphones are no longer new anymore in Singapore. Since last year, the major telecommunication companies (Telcos) have been offering special iphone packages one after another to capture their bite of the cherry. Many Singaporeans have bought iphones and this trend is understandable and inevitable as we all know that Singaporeans are creatures of the latest IT gadgets. So what happens after you have bought an iphone? Well, it is pretty obvious, many iphone buyers will seek to maximize their iphone packages by utilizing all the applets, internet time and applications as much as possible . As such, we will see nowadays Singaporeans, New Citizens, Foreigners, Permanent Residents living in our island and who are owners of iphones whiling away their time during their public transport commute on their iphones. Worst, I have seen employees whiling away their time on their iphones while working and I believe too this is the trend. It is really very difficult nowadays to catch employees idling wit

The number ‘8’ is an auspicious number to Chinese during Chinese New Year. Today is the third day of Chinese New Year and according to Chinese customs; it is not very good to visit relatives and friends on this day of the Chinese New Year. As such, I stayed at home today and was busy doing something for 8 times (an auspicious number coincidentally too!) What was that thing I did 8 times? Well, I visited the toilet for a total number of ‘8’ times! Sorry, in this case, my visit to the toilet did not mean that I paid a visit to the toilet and exchanged greetings with the toilet bowl and water cistern. In actual fact, I played host to the toilet bowl though I was the ‘guest’ in the toilet as I treated the toilet bowl for a sumptuous diet of soups and chocolates for a total of eight times! Blame it on that stupid laksa I ate last night which I have mentioned in my post yesterday! Haiz, though Singapore is a food paradise, all it takes is one hawker selling contaminated and unhygienic food

Sirens rang islandwide at 12 pm sharp yesterday while many Singaporeans were still busy visiting their relatives and friends. I believe many Singaporeans do not understand the significance of the siren. Worst, they might not have heard the shrill of the siren while enjoying the festive mood and food of Chinese New Year. Similar to other years, yesterday 15 Feb is Total Defence Day. 58 years ago, Singapore was invaded by the Japanese and was occupied for a total of 3 years and 8 months. Under the Japanese rule, Singaporeans led a life of hell. Thousands of men were massacred, thousands of women were raped with many being shot in their vaginas after being raped, children were not spared as the Japanese soldiers flung infants high up towards the skies, only to have them dropped to the heart of their bayonets, with their blood smeared across the faces of their Japanese devils. I have heard somewhere that these Japanese soldiers believed the blood of infants smeared across their faces was a

The past few days have been really flying and I have been sleeping late and busy visiting. Though Singapore is not too big, traversing from one end of the island to the other via public transport can take its toll on many, mentally and physically including me. All these late nights, busy preparations, smacking of unhealthy food can really make one unhealthy! Many hawkers were closed these two days during Chinese New Year and this is definitely understandable as stall owners still need a day or two to spend Chinese New Year with their loved ones. As I passed Bedok Food Centre interchange this evening after a busy day of visiting my relatives, I saw to my expectation many closed stalls but there were some stalls which were open for business. I need some food to fill my empty stomach. Chicken rice? I saw a stall with an attractive signboard selling salad chicken rice. Mentioning that stall really boiled my nerves as the chicken rice was most expensive and the quality and quantity was th

How time passes! At this time of writing, Chinese New Year has just entered into its second day! So what have I been doing these few days? The answer is obvious, I have been preparing for Chinese New Year! I woke up early on Saturday, the eve of Chinese New year and after completing my routine errands for the day, I commenced my annual spring cleaning. The areas of spring cleaning are my study areas, computer areas as well as bedroom. What is surprising about spring cleaning is that as you start to work through the list of paraphernalia to be cleared, you will bound to discover even more items to be listed on your spring cleaning agenda! I cleared my cupboard, threw out all the unwanted stuff, swept, cleaned, wiped off the grime and effectively detoxified and sanitized these areas. It was such a chore. At the end of the day, I spent actually close to 7 hours clearing my stuff. After which, it was a sumptuous reunion dinner. Following the dinner, my wife and I went to Chinatown to feel

Everyone knows how important it is to feel motivated in life. Only with motivation can one have the will and passion to ride through the hardships of life toward one’s own goals. Life is not always a bed of rose, it is full of challenges and unexpected twists and turns. After having been through so much myself, I realize that life is not fair at all. We all have to accept that life is not fair, however we must not lose all hope and ambition on recognizing this very fact. Despites all odds, we must solider on to fight for what we believe and to achieve what we always want to do. In life, there may not be justice at all as you see for yourself, seeing the injustice being played out in life, inevitably, we feel despondent and unfair. Self motivation is a skill we need to develop. Motivation and feeling motivated is not a easy skill to learn else there would not be hundreds of people paying few thousands of dollars just to learn to feel motivated from those so-called success coaches. Visit

If you are into website traffic fraternity, you would have read about Alexa.com, the website which ranks all websites residing in the cyberworld according to the website traffic they garner. The lower the rank, the better is the score. The envious number 1 spot on Alexa.com is none other than big brother, Google! Do not underestimate the Alexa rank! This Alexa rank can help to boost the fortune of several websites and blogs which reply on advertisements placed by other companies on their websites as form of revenues! To break into the top Alexa ranking of 100,000, according to my estimation, you would need to attract about 1000 pageviews per day on the average to your website! We have heard about the Alexa ranking list of blogs and other websites,what about the Alexa ranking of websites of Singapore ministries? I trawl the internet but found no information relating to such an Alexa ranking made of the ministries here in Singapore. I believe that an Alexa ranking of the government

With Chinese New Year arriving in just 3 days' time and all the festive mood of Chinese New year reving up and culminating in a sky-high (literally and figuratively) midnight of fireworks and firecrackers this Sunday 14 Feb 10, it seems completely irrelevant and daft (learnt this word recently from the news!) on how hair loss should come into picture at all on this festive season ! However, this relevancy is not all lost during Chinese New Year, let me tell you why. One or two weeks before Chinese New Year: Spring Cleaning: First of all, as we know, stress does play a factor in inducing hair loss. With the hustle and bustle of Chinese New Year, many of us, already busy with work and life, have to find time off our hectic schedule to clear our houses and do spring cleaning for that big day of the Chinese lunar year! The stress (of finding time and clearing the houses) can shed some of your precious strands of hair! One or two days before Chinese New Year: Ang Baos: Secondly, for th

Continued from previous post .... Navigating around Sungei Buloh is a breeze. There are a few trails one can take to explore the place. Each trail is graded as 'Easy', 'Medium' or 'Difficult' in the map and the duration for completing each trail is also indicated on the map. My wife and I chose a combination of routes that cut across the different grades of trails. There are observation decks built around the reserve for visitors to observe the rare birds on the lowlands. Yes, rare birds were the first sights that greeted us, along the way we were intrigued by the other sights of nature at Sungei Buloh. First, the freshwaters. The freshwaters were at a height just some tens of centimetres from the wooden boardwalks we were trekking on. Surrounded by the freshwater at this height, the feeling we had walking on the boardwalk is surreal! It was unlike Singapore! It felt as though we were in Venice! If you want to experience something which is unlike the brick and

My wife and I were at Toa Payoh yesterday when we chanced upon the Housing Development Board’s (HDB) exhibition at HDB hub. This year, HDB celebrates its 50th anniversary. About 90% of Singaporeans currently own a flat, with 80% of the population living in HDB housing apartments. When Singapore gained independence, the majority of its population lived in slums and squatters set up haphazardly with little proper sanitation and hygiene. Today, Singaporeans live in houses which they are proud of, with great amenities and facilities in the neighbourhood. However, these days, finding a flat here is becoming a Herculean task with the demand far outstripping supply! Many Singaporeans are looking for flat, be it resales flat or new flats. Housing estate agents are also having a field day with the boom in business. Visit Singapore Short Stories for more interesting reads NOW!

Mention Sungei Buloh wetland reserves to Singaporeans, you will realise that though the name rings a bell to many, many Singaporeans might not have visited one of this last natural gems residing in our city. I am one of these Singaporeans who have not visited Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve until recently. The photos of bird watching on low land come to my mind whenever I think of Sungei Buloh, as such if I do not like bird watching, Sungei Buloh will be a boring place to me..this is what I have always thought until my recent visit to the place. Sungei Buloh has more to offer besides its famed watching of rare species of birds. As a natural reserve, Sungei Buloh is located in the far-flung end of Kranji and it is definitely not easy to get to this place by public transport. The reserve is not as open as any other parks where you can enter and exit at any point. One need to pass through the entrance at the visitors' centre, admission is free on weekdays but a $1 charge is levied on wee

So what is 'Fan Tai Sui'? Is it connected to Chinese Feng Shui? With the coming of Chinese New Year, it is timely to examine this topic a bit closer! Chinese New Year will be here in about 9 days time. Whenever it is Chinese New Year, apart from the usual festive exchange of greetings, hongbaos and mandarin oranges as well as the visiting of friends and relatives, Chinese (Buddists and Taoists mainly) will go to temples to pray for a better lunar year ahead. Many Chinese will also check whether the Chinese zodiac animal signs they are born under will 'fan' (Chinese Hanyu Pinyin for 'Offend') 'Tai Sui' for the coming Chinese New Year. So what is 'Tai Sui'? If you want something physical, 'Tai Sui' refers to the stars directly opposite the planet Jupiter. Chinese legend has it that the Heavenly Jade Emperor has a team of 60 generals who will rotate to help the Emperor govern the Heavens as well as the mortal world for the term of a Chinese

Despites being a modern city, Singapore still has within its limited land space, areas dedicated to farms for the growing of vegetables and rearing of livestock to contribute to a certain percentage of its food needs. Many of these farms are located in Kranji and a number of these farms, mostly well-established farms have banded together to inject vibrancy and fun of farming by forming a group called ‘Kranj Countryside’. Some of the ways this group has explored to reach out to more Singaporeans include the setting up of the Kranji Countryside website, the establishment of shuttle services from Kranji MRT station to farms and as well as the construction of farm resorts for Singaporeans who wish to experience farmland living. I am not a regular visitor to these farms though I love all things green and rural. I am a regular visitor to the parks in Singapore but I seldom go to farms for one reason: the farms in Kranji are difficult to access via public transport. Though you may argue that

3 youths were arrested for posting racist remarks at Facebook. This is not the first time that a person here is brought to task for posting some remarks injurious to the common goodwill of our people here. Some months back, a blogger was also similarly caught for posting racist remarks in his blog. I believe such cases do happen from time to time here in Singapore and other countries. I believe it is not that these perpetuators cannot tell right from wrong or deliberately post these radical comments on social networking media knowing the government’s stand here. The reason for them posting such comments is most likely due to the fact that social networking has become so intertwined with our personal life that it has now become our personal domain. We witness this increasing trend of the invasion or integration of public social networking tools into our personal lives. Modern people spend hours and hours on Facebook, blogs, twitters, forums, MSN, Youtube among many other new media tools

What is the Best and Cheapest Snack of Singapore? The answer is none other than the Maxwell Food Centre's Hum Jim Pang! Introduction: After the 3rd trip to Maxwell Food Centre, (the 2nd trip with my Dear), Singapore Short Stories feels so inspired by the hum jin pangs he has partaken at the stall that he blogs what is believed to be the longest blog post till far in his Singapore Short Stories blog ! Singapore Short Stories dedicates this blog post to the old maestro of Maxwell Food Centre Hum Jin Pang stall, my Dear who is a fanatic of Hum Jin Pang (only from Maxwell Food Centre Hum Jin Pang stall !) as well as all lovers of Hum Jin Pang! Enjoy reading, folks! Wishing you a Happy New Year! Maxwell Food Centre Hum Jin Pang Day after day, night after night, year after year, the relentless firm kneads of perfectly elastic and flawless dough, the adroit pulling and twisting of the dough into fine balls of a thousand shapes and sizes, the smooth rolling of these with an anc

Singapore's Richest Man, Mr Ng Teng Fong has passed away today after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage 10 days ago. He is the founder of the Far East Group and his net worth is at a staggering US $8 billion! Visit Singapore Short Stories for more interesting reads NOW!

If you happen to read or stumble upon this blog post as a result of the picture of the lady above or you have googled for "Beautiful Ladies" and have hence arrived at this blog, then this just underscores the high premium society places on beauty. Who does not want to be born beautiful in life? Being born beautiful is definitely an asset to one as society prides itself on looks. Just look at the revenues raked in by the beauty industry: we have laser therapy, slimming, hair treatments and more! It is partially true that people with good looks tend to succeed more in life, a study I once read has indicated. However, what is beauty to me lies in the beauty of the heart. Imagine if you encounter people with good looks but whose personality is terrible and have bad demeanour, whom you still consider them as beautiful. Beauty is often in society terms just skin deep, we should look further than this and look at the beauty of a person as encompassing both heart, mind and soul! Even